I really enjoyed "Between You and Us" - I finished it in a day! Being from Milwaukee, I appreciated the local references. The author does a beautiful job of setting the scene and telling Leona’s heartfelt and thought-provoking story.. I found myself weighing her choices and contemplating the decision if I had been in her shoes. The characters were well-developed, and I enjoyed how everything wrapped up in the end.

I appreciated how the author delves into the themes grief and relationship - marriage, family, friendship. She explores the beauty and the messiness of human connection and the ways in which we navigate loss and healing. I’d recommend to anyone looking for a compelling story about love, loss, and the bonds that hold us together.

Thanks to Waterbrook & Multnomah and NetGalley for the ARC.

Engaging Debut!

Between You and Us is part Women's Fiction and part Magical Realism.

After the loss of her infant daughter, Leona struggles to breath, struggles to carry on. In an effort to re calibrate their marriage, Leona and husband David plan to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary at an expensive restaurant.

When Leona arrives at the restaurant, she discovers she has landed in a different version of her life. She and her husband are different people and not ones she likes very much. However, the daughter she lost is not lost, but a toddler.

The novel plays out with two threads..current day in the alternate future and the second thread which starts back when David and Leona began dating in college.

Pages were turning. This novel is recommended for fans of Women's Fiction. Unique story and unique cover.

Between You and Us by Kendra Broekhuis is an interesting story about grief, motherhood, and marriage. I thought it was a touching tale. It is told in alternating chapters between the past and present. The reverse timeline was confusing at times. We are immediately plunged into the alternate life at the beginning of Between You and Us. We join Leona to learn about the past and how she ended up in the alternate world. Leona will need to make a choice at the end of her self-discovery journey. Of course, Leona needs to learn how she ended in this unfamiliar life and, if she desires, how to get back to her own life. Leona faces difficult challenges in both worlds plus she learns some valuable lessons. We do not know what choice Leona will make until it is revealed. I do wish the pacing had been a little livelier. I liked Leona’s husband, David (in both worlds), but I was unable to connect with Leona. The chapters on grief are moving (have a box of tissues nearby). Between You and Us is a complex, thought provoking story.

I fell in love with this book right away and couldn’t put it down. It pulled at all my heart strings. As a momma who has experienced the loss of a child through miscarriage I can relate to Leona who lost herself after the death of her daughter. I think any of us who have experienced loss of any kind have thought of how life might look differently without that loss. To read through a book that plays to life with or without your loss was beautiful. Also, the most beautiful part of the entire book was the part about the bear hunt! Hopefully I’ve said enough to make you want to read this and left enough unsaid to make you enjoy every page.

Leona travels to a fancy restaurant for an anniversary dinner with her husband and finds him, but not him. She’s entered an alternative world where their baby daughter is still alive. She must determine how to find her way back to “her” David in their penny-pinching bungalow or whether to stay here with baby Vera in a wealthy home.
Interesting multiverse story, first I’ve read. I did have a hard time warming up to Leona, who had a lot of anger issues, but David 1 sparkles. Even David 2 is fascinating as he tries to figure out what happened to his wife.

'Irrational things are happening. But, that does not mean I'm irrational'.

When Leona and David experience the worst possible tragedy a parent can, their vows of 'for better or for worse' are put to the test. Cloaking herself in guilt, Leona shuts out the world and incrementally removes herself from her once close relationship with David. Anxiety plagues her. It would be impossible to refrain from entertaining a myriad of 'what ifs'. Really, what if?

Thinking she is experiencing yet another debilitating anxiety attack, Leona finds herself instead experiencing an alternate life; a life she might have had, had she made a different decision at a pivotal moment in her past - before David and her were married. As she explores the life, hope, and dreams of her variegated self, she discovers that love is the only way to move on from grieving her daughter Vera and start living again, 'I want to honor her life by living ours'.

This is a 'sliding doors' journey of self-discovery. I enjoyed learning about her past, interspersed with her new present. The author's personal loss in real life comes through in the cathartic epiphanies, which shine through the pain and bring a sense of peace. Overall, a good and rewarding read.

This was not at all what I had expected, but I was pleasantly surprised with how this book turned out to be. The characters, their development, their storyline , and their choices were so interesting. I also felt that the writing was excellent.

I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. It was a beautiful book. The cover is stunning. Many thanks to the publisher and also to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book has what people in deep grief would want to do, is it possible? Well, I was page turning for answers on how this one was going to turn out. Yes, I have lost a child, and yes, I know how my mind would have loved different answers.
We are with Lenora and David when they first meet and start dating, and through the meeting of his family, and then through the desire to have a child.
We meet these characters up personal and get to know them and their families. They sure did come from different backgrounds, and now Lenora has been granted a choice, and we are there to see which path she journeys and we see the benefits to both, yes, you need to get to the answers!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Waterbrook, and was not required to give a positive review.

This book is definitely not my usual read, however I quickly became immersed in the pages. This book has a sliding doors vibe to it with a class system vibe. It is not only about taking the road less traveled, but moving forward after tragedy strikes and finding a way to heal while taking the best parts forward. It was not apparent at first what was going on other than the main character starts her relationship from near the beginning and has to decide whether she will remain where she is, or return to where she came from. The book meets full circle between the past and present and makes you really think about the choices you have made and where you would be today. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley. I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for allowing me to read an ARC of Between You and Us by Kendra Broekhuis in exchange for my honest review.

Phenomenal! I ADORED this book! Which life do you choose? A life with the man you love, or a life with the child you lost?

This book was extremely well-written; the characters, the dialog, the emotion, were all so real! Happiness and heartbreak, tenderness and strength, hope and fear, love and loss.

There are not enough words to accurately describe this book. You will need to read it and find out yourself.

Between You and Us
Kendra Broekhuis
Waterbrook & Multnomah
March 12, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGAlley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
When a grieving woman unexpectedly steps into a different version of her life, she must choose between the husband she loves and the daughter she lost in this brave, gripping novel.

Two possible lives to live. One impossible choice to make.
New author for me but I found this book to be fresh and interesting!
I would recommend it for those who want a inspired book.
4 stars

BetweenYou andUs by Kendra Broekhuis is a novel about alternate choices.Leona is celebrating her tenth anniversary with her husband David Waylon at a very fancy restaurant.They have had a year of heartache and she is hoping for a new start.Leona is surprised by her husbands appearance and attitude.When she has a panic attack he takes her home but it is not the old car they drive or old home they live in.Leona is grieving her tiny daughter but when they get home her daughter is there alive but older.There we’re many different time travels in this story both from past to present and the alternative choices in the story.I have usually not been a fan of time travel books but I found this new and interesting.Thank you NetGalley and Waterbrook and Multinomah for allowing me to read this ARC!

Always enjoy authors who ask us to consider an unorthodox scenario. This is almost an extension of the idea of different lives that Matt Haig explores in The Midnight Library. I thought Between You and Us was very readable as I continued to guess where the story line was going. A great concept for readers looking for something a little different.

Between You and Us was a delightful book. And you know your are invested in the storyline and characters when you cry. A definite read for those who like any of the following genres; romance (without explicit scenes), science fiction (but also, don't let that scare you away), and suspense.

While the book was really not what I was expecting, after reading the first chapter or two, I got sucked right in to the storyline. I couldn't wait to see where this book would take me. It included everything I needed for a book to be great; anticipation, wonder, anxiety, fun, and of course some crying. Each chapter left me wondering how the author, Kendra Broekhuis would bring everything together in the end. And it didn't disappoint.

And while not right in your face, Kendra also managed to add some life lessons about society. So there is a little bit of everything wrapped into this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. I will be looking out for more book from Kendra Broekhuis.

When Leona Warlon unexpectedly steps into a different version of her life, she must choose between the husband she loves and the daughter she lost.

This was a book dealing with a woman who is grief-stricken after her little girl, Vera is killed by a car. Leona is depressed and having panic attacks.

I found this book hard to follow(in the beginning) because (for me) I felt that the periods in the future and periods in the past were confusing to me to follow. It didn’t make sense to my literal mind, but as Leona started to understand what was going on, she dared to speak with the version of David, her husband that she wanted to be with, it was then that everything started making sense to me. I realized that maybe the author was trying to portray the way the grief was jerking Leona around and how she needed to integrate her past into her present without Vera and, if that was the case, it was a brilliant move because grief isn’t predictable. The ending and my grasp of it at the ending definitely upped my enjoyment of this story!

My gratitude to NetGalley, WaterBrook and Multnomah. All opinions expressed are mine and honest.

I am giving this book 5 stars for fairness. I couldn’t get into it. I got to about 30% and just couldn’t get going with the story.

I think people will love this one but it’s not for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Could not put it down!! What an absolutely fabulous read. The what if would you choose if you could choose your life and the tragedy that the other you would have to endure. The author made a very compelling argument for both choices and wrapped this story up so well. I devoured this book.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.

3.5 Stars
Between You and Us is an interesting story, throwing the main character into an alternate version of her life where she has the chance to see how her life would be if circumstances were different. Using the idea of quantum mechanics, Leona is thrust into a world that is familiar, but isn’t the life she’d chosen.
In both worlds, she has struggles and challenges that aren’t easy to face. In both worlds, she has friendships but they’re not the same. There’s a depth to the lessons she learns about herself that she wouldn’t have living in the world readers are first introduced to her.
It was difficult to connect to Leona – in either world. She’s a quirky character, especially when readers see her relationship with her husband unfold in college. David, her husband is a likeable character despite the pressure from his parents and the relationship he has with Leona in the alternate version of her life.
The ending is a bit of a surprise as readers aren’t given a glimpse into the “other” Leona’s life while “this” Leona is trying to figure out what she wants, how this happened, or how to get back.
I received an advanced copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Between You and Us is a touching novel which considers life as a series of interconnected decisions shooting off into alternate universes depending on one’s choices. Leona is the practical and empathetic protagonist of this novel who is thrust into one of these other universes where she is forced to reflect on her own personal tragedy in order to decide if she will stay in this alternate universe or return back to her own.

This story is told alternating between the past and present to tell a story of falling in love, figuring out one’s identity, and overcoming great tragedy. I really liked how I was immediately thrust into the alternate universe with Leona, trying to figure out how she arrived there alongside her. This made for a multi-layered story as I tried to figure out how Leona arrived in this different universe, as well as what had happened in her own universe to even have Leona contemplate staying in this alternate world.

My biggest gripe with this novel is the ending. I didn’t mind Leona’s final decision (to stay or not to stay), but I did feel that as opposed to earlier in the novel where the reader was firmly inside Leona’s head, when she was making her final decision the reader was blocked out. I would guess this was to have her final decision be a surprise, but I would have rather been able to easily guess what she was going to do if it meant I could have had more of an insight into her thought process.

Overall, this novel was thought-provoking and heartbreaking. Leona and David’s story is one full of personal tragedy turned to glimmering hope which made me reflect on my own choices, and the different universes that could’ve spawned from them.

I was curious but skeptical about this book. I am very happy to say that this was one of the best books that I have read in a long time. The time slip was exceptionally well done. Highly recommended!